DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0330
The Italian Renaissance and Baroque
301
found it in ruins, and anyhow it served him as a convenient foundation for a circular hill
planted all round with cypresses—seen by Evelyn when they were cut into the form of
a fortress, with a pavilion and a fountain on the top of the mound. The earliest drawing
shows a straight stairway on the garden side, fountains on either hand, and a spiral path
running round.
This plan of an artificial mound we saw in ancient Assyrian times as well as in the
Middle Ages. It was not at all common at the period of Italian Renaissance, but was used
continuously in northern countries while the formal style was still popular. Its original
intention was to provide a fine view from enclosed gardens; but in the south it was no
longer needed because of the extension of terraces and the high situation of country
houses. The Villa Medici would have had a fine view without the addition of this extra
height, and the prospect seen from the high gardens was always praised—on one side
the town with its domes and towers, on the other the beautiful garden land, at that time
sprinkled with any number of little villas which were gradually absorbed into one large
one, the Borghese. Gurlitt describes it as "a garden to look out of rather than to look
into," but the splendour of it must have been increased by the noble works of art and
the garden full of fruit and flowers in strong contrast with the sombre cypresses cover-
ing hills and terraces. And the view must have been magnificent—in its own way
absolutely unique.
Later on, when Tuscan grand dukes gradually lost interest in the Roman villa,
the precious statues were one by one removed to Florentine collections, though the last
Medici of them all, Jean Gaston, did once make a great renovation. In the year 1801
FIG. 231. VILLA MEDICI, ROME—EARLIEST DESIGN
I—X
301
found it in ruins, and anyhow it served him as a convenient foundation for a circular hill
planted all round with cypresses—seen by Evelyn when they were cut into the form of
a fortress, with a pavilion and a fountain on the top of the mound. The earliest drawing
shows a straight stairway on the garden side, fountains on either hand, and a spiral path
running round.
This plan of an artificial mound we saw in ancient Assyrian times as well as in the
Middle Ages. It was not at all common at the period of Italian Renaissance, but was used
continuously in northern countries while the formal style was still popular. Its original
intention was to provide a fine view from enclosed gardens; but in the south it was no
longer needed because of the extension of terraces and the high situation of country
houses. The Villa Medici would have had a fine view without the addition of this extra
height, and the prospect seen from the high gardens was always praised—on one side
the town with its domes and towers, on the other the beautiful garden land, at that time
sprinkled with any number of little villas which were gradually absorbed into one large
one, the Borghese. Gurlitt describes it as "a garden to look out of rather than to look
into," but the splendour of it must have been increased by the noble works of art and
the garden full of fruit and flowers in strong contrast with the sombre cypresses cover-
ing hills and terraces. And the view must have been magnificent—in its own way
absolutely unique.
Later on, when Tuscan grand dukes gradually lost interest in the Roman villa,
the precious statues were one by one removed to Florentine collections, though the last
Medici of them all, Jean Gaston, did once make a great renovation. In the year 1801
FIG. 231. VILLA MEDICI, ROME—EARLIEST DESIGN
I—X